Evaluation of our Training Program by Scott M., prepared in August 2014, and used with his permission

1. What would you say to a trainee or intern interested in training at CCG?

Depends on the context of course. I would recommend CCG depending on the person’s interest in recovery, deep healing, and their commitment to their own personal and spiritual growth.

I would let them know that for myself, I could not have imagined training anywhere else, and that I felt tremendously supported as I transitioned into being a clinician.

2. How would you describe your overall experience at CCG?

Growthful, challenging, rewarding, and very helpful clinically. I wouldn’t have rather trained anywhere else.

3. What would you say you gained as a clinician from your training at CCG?

The ability to go for specificity. A framework through which to engage my work such that my clients offer me an opportunity to heal, while still being of service to them and helping them heal. High quality addictions and suicidality assessment training. Learning to use my-self, emotions, counter-transference as instruments for healing work, learning to be a “medium” for healing work. Methodologies ie. gestalt, expressive arts, couples mirroring, closed eye work. Learning to listen to my intuition and use that while guiding inquiry with clients. Learning to mirror others for their reality empathically while having my own. Situating clients symptoms in relationship to their roles and experiences in their family of origin.

4. What do you feel you gained personally from your training at CCG?

Greater self-acceptance, confidence, learning more about how to set my own boundaries, speak my wants and needs in relationship to others.Greater awareness of my own history and vulnerabilities, wounded places, inner child. Reduced shame voice/ self-judgment. Greater ability to trust that HP is looking out for me, that issues can become challenges and opportunities for creative growth. The art of finding gratitude in subjectively challenging emotional situations, which I am still working on.

5. Which aspects of the Training Program did you find most helpful for meeting your training goals?

6. How would you describe your relationships at CCG – both with your supervisors/audio trainers (individually or collectively) and with your cohort members?

For the most part very healing and affirming. I feel like I got a lot of great training, and healing work with all of my supervisors. I liked the style of feedback by my audio trainers, it felt very affirming, and supportive of me. I felt supported by my supervisors as well. Most relationships in my cohort group have felt very supportive, and I have grown close to a number of cohort mates. Relating to a particular group member, who ended up leaving the training program, was a challenge for me, and looking back I may have liked to try to talk more about my transference with her while she was still here. But since then, I have felt good that I was able to explore some of what came up for me in relationship to her style of being in the group. I think something I have learned in the process is to simply appreciate the vulnerability of my colleagues and myself in the group process, and really I have been able more recently to feel a sense of privilege in being a witness to healing and vulnerability of each of them.

7. Please comment on the component of communication as you experienced it at the Center – particularly communication between you and the Clinical Supervisory Team. You are welcome to write about the Team as a collective, or refer to individual members.

Not exactly sure how this differs from the prior question, is there a more specific question around the communication? Otherwise I can respond generally that I think that I started at the center with a real fear and kind of mistrust of authority figures, especially female authority figures. Over time at the center, when I saw how my supervisors responded to myself and other cohort members, I learned that I wouldn’t receive the same type of treatment, which I was really terrified of. This is especially true around anger. I have been able on different occasions to express some anger at each of my supervisors. This is also something I have worked on with my individual therapist. I am now able to sometimes recognize that when I feel anger I can get locked in a PTSD response of terror and rage. I am very appreciative for this awareness, and to me it is a huge step in my healing process.

I felt like my own capacity to communicate has greatly improved through the modeling of my supervisors, and now I have a sense for what ‘healthy,’ or ‘healthier’ communication looks and feels like. I have seen humility, and apologies be modeled to me which has felt healing to me and enhanced my ability to offer this to clients.

8. What difficulties did you experience during your training? Did you communicate about these difficulties to any of your supervisors? Was the difficulty resolved?

I experienced difficulty in relationship to some of the female members in my cohort. They both ended up leaving the training program. This is something I directly spoke to at least two of my supervisors and processed with.

Another difficulty is simply the adjustment to the demand for detail, and the amount of work conducted over voicemail and on phone intake. Some of this resolved on its own as I got used to the practice. Other times it brought me up against my perfectionism, and fear of criticism. I am not sure how much I communicated about my difficulties with this, but I imagined I did communicate at least some.

Learning to take care of myself–self-care. I push it too hard sometimes.

I think checking my voicemail 3 times a day and receiving many messages was difficult for me. It is something that I never particularly looked forward to, although I can see its relevance and usefulness now. I don’t think I have directly communicated about this difficulty until now.

9. Which aspects of the Training Program did you find the most difficult?

At first definitely the amount of specificity in details, over time I began to realize the practicality of this though. I tend to think of attention to detail as a underdeveloped area in my life, so in that sense it gave me some room to grow into that. I generally identify as the type that doesn’t take many notes, and doesn’t give as much attention to this realm.

Well, working with my own issues is difficult because I have tried so long to protect myself from feeling, or acknowledging. It is hard work to do the uncovering.

Interpersonal processing was difficult, as I developed more trust in colleagues and my supervisors it got easier (for the most part, but definitely still is/was challenging).

Listening to voicemails after a long day in the office.

10. If you could change something(s) at the Center, what would it be?

Time spent on the phone.

11. Any other comments you’d like to make?

I really appreciate your support and guidance, and I am so glad that I had the privilege of training with you. I really can’t imagine beginning my training anywhere else. Also, I appreciate your help in my development as a clinician. I am very pleased with my current trajectory and the skills that I have been able to cultivate in 2 years here.